Digital Thread: A Data-Driven Framework for Product Lifecycle Management

Digital thread is a term that refers to the use of digital tools and data to connect the different stages of a product’s lifecycle, from design to manufacturing to service and beyond¹ ² Digital thread enables end-to-end visibility and traceability of a product’s history, performance, and status, as well as the interactions and dependencies among its components, processes, and systems³

Why is Digital Thread Important?

Digital thread is important for several reasons:

It can improve the quality, efficiency, and innovation of product development by enabling data-driven decision making, collaboration, and feedback across the product lifecycle.
It can reduce the cost, risk, and time of product delivery by streamlining the data flow, eliminating data silos, and ensuring data consistency and accuracy.
It can enhance the customer experience and satisfaction by providing personalized, proactive, and predictive service and support based on real-time data from the product in use.
It can enable new business models and opportunities by leveraging the data insights and value generated from the product lifecycle to create new products, services, and markets.

How Does Digital Thread Work?

Digital thread works by linking the digital representations of a product’s physical entities, such as its design models, manufacturing processes, operational data, and service records. These digital representations are also known as digital twins, which are virtual replicas of a product or its components that can simulate their behavior and performance under various conditions.

Digital thread integrates the data from different sources and systems across the product lifecycle using common standards, protocols, and platforms. This allows the data to be shared, accessed, and analyzed by different stakeholders and applications in a seamless and secure manner.

Digital thread also enables feedback loops between the different stages of the product lifecycle, allowing the data to be updated and refined based on the actual performance and usage of the product. This creates a continuous learning cycle that can improve the product design, manufacturing, operation, and service over time.

What are the Benefits of Digital Thread?

Digital thread can provide various benefits for different stakeholders involved in the product lifecycle, such as:

Product designers: They can use digital thread to access relevant data from previous or similar products, test their design concepts in virtual environments, validate their design requirements and specifications, and optimize their design choices based on feedback from downstream stages.
Product manufacturers: They can use digital thread to align their manufacturing processes with the design specifications, monitor and control their production quality and efficiency, identify and resolve issues or defects in real time, and optimize their resource utilization and inventory management.
Product operators: They can use digital thread to track and manage their product assets, optimize their operational performance and reliability, prevent or mitigate failures or downtime, and reduce their maintenance costs and risks.
Product servicers: They can use digital thread to provide customized, timely, and effective service and support to their customers based on their product usage patterns, needs, preferences, and feedback. They can also offer new value-added services such as remote diagnostics, predictive maintenance, or performance optimization.
Product customers: They can use digital thread to enjoy a better product experience and satisfaction by receiving personalized recommendations, guidance, and assistance based on their product behavior and context. They can also benefit from improved product quality, safety, and sustainability by using products that are designed, manufactured, operated, and serviced with data-driven insights.

What are the Challenges of Digital Thread?

Digital thread also poses some challenges that need to be addressed before it can be fully implemented and realized such as:

Data quality: The data used for digital thread needs to be accurate, complete, timely, and consistent to ensure its reliability and usefulness for decision making and action taking. Data quality issues can arise from various sources such as human errors, system errors, or malicious attacks. Therefore, data quality management and governance are essential for digital thread.
Data security: The data used for digital thread needs to be protected from unauthorized access, use, modification, or disclosure that could compromise its confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Data security issues can arise from various threats such as cyberattacks, data breaches, or data leaks. Therefore, data security measures and policies are essential for digital thread.
Data interoperability: The data used for digital thread needs to be compatible and exchangeable among different sources and systems across the product lifecycle. Data interoperability issues can arise from various factors such as data heterogeneity, diversity, or complexity. Therefore, data interoperability standards and protocols are essential for digital thread.
Data ownership: The data used for digital thread needs to be clearly defined and regulated in terms of who owns it, who can access it, who can use it, and who can benefit from it. Data ownership issues can arise from various conflicts such as data privacy, data ethics, or data monetization. Therefore, data ownership agreements and frameworks are essential for digital thread.

Conclusion

Digital thread is a data-driven framework that connects the digital twins of different products, processes, and systems throughout their lifecycles, enabling end-to-end visibility and traceability. Digital thread can provide various benefits for product development, delivery, operation, and service, as well as new business models and opportunities. However, digital thread also poses some challenges that need to be addressed in terms of data quality, security, interoperability, and ownership. Therefore, digital thread requires a holistic and collaborative approach that involves multiple stakeholders and technologies across the product lifecycle.

Digital Thread: A Data-Driven Framework for Product Lifecycle Management